The pen that writes off a king

If the army had dispatched Khila Bhandari why did they take Swagat Nepal? Swagat’s ordeal lasted for an entire day, and he suffered immensely under a constant flow of veiled threats and beatings.

There is nothing new however in the use of torment as an instrument of Nepal’s state policy under King Gyanendra to force the journalists toe the official line. Way back in 2001 (a few months Gyanendra’s enthronement), the editor-in-chief of Kantipur publication, Yubaraj Ghimire, was charged with ‘‘treason against the monarchy’’ for carrying an article written by Baburam Bhattarai, and was imprisoned. For Surya Thapa, the editor of the vernacular Budhabar weekly, summons to the CDO office, detentions, and long hours of interrogation are now a routine matter. His most recent trip to the prison was because of the article, ‘‘Where is Democracy, Your Majesty’’?

For every journalist and media house that has succumbed there is one who is bravely resisting. Brave men and women, like Gunaraj, Swagat and Surya are pushing hard for more and more critical articles against the government. There is no condom for the pen, as Khushwant Singh has often said, but Gyanendra sought to invent one through the barrel of the gun. Fortunately, the brave Nepali journalists have turned the King’s condom for the pen, into a leaky one. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the brave Nepali journalists is the international media.

One classic example was the outcry that took place when one of the figureheads of Nepali journalism Kanak Mani Dixit was also subjected to the same crude methods of government coercion.Yet it seems censure and lack of information during those initial anxious days has worked to the advantage of the government. For example, even media people based in Kathmandu don’t know about the torture that Swagat had to undergo.One can only shudder to think about the fate of honest journalists working for smaller media houses. This article is therefore an appeal to all Nepali journalists to do there job as honestly as possible. For example, no news of the opposition, including the Maoists, is published without the army’s nod. Only the information of the Maoists decimated by the army is allowed. Recently journalists were flown to Khara illage where a Maoist-army battle had taken place and journalists could write extensively about the army’s success. One point however, missed is how can one confirm whether they were actually 50 dead Maoists, or 50 common people, or 50 dead army men in clothes like those of Maoists?

With the army now moved out from the childish task of shepherding journalists the independence in the private media is thankfully again rearing its head. The government is trying to stem the flood of journalists rebelling against the royal diktat by stopping government ads in those publishing houses that do not toe the government’s line. The pulsating Nepali media of today was not created in a matter of seconds by some external force to pander to an individual’s whim and fancy. Many thousands have soiled and toiled years on end to transform a fledging press into its present vibrant self with a loyal base amongst millions of us, Nepalis. A free-thinking, democratic, prosperous, and vibrant Nepal would be in the best interests of South Asia.

(Inputs of Luitel and Nepal were collected through personal correspondence)